Wednesday marks National Cereal Day, a day to celebrate the crunchy, cool and sweet breakfast treat.

Are you enjoying a bowl, or just reflecting on those long-gone days of reading the back of the box before school? Here's what to know about about the breakfast staple.

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Why is it called cereal?

Like many English words, we need to go back to antiquity for cereal's origin. Ceres was the Roman goddess of agriculture and harvest. Fun fact: She gave birth to the lord of the underworld, Pluto. Angsty children aside, she seems like an OK deity for farmers.

The beginnings of the breakfast cereal craze started during the Civil War. James Caleb Jackson, a religious conservative, vocal abolitionist and vegetarian, ran a health resort in western New York. He's credited with creating the first cold breakfast cereal, but his graham cracker-based meal known as "Granula" wasn't ready-to-eat. It had to be soaked in milk for at least 20 minutes and preferably overnight. These days, that's a recipe for a soggy mess.

Eventually, the product came to the attention of and was developed by such synonymous-with-cereal names as Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and C.W. Post. By the early 20th century, their fiber-rich products were going national and soon found popularity around the world.

What's the most popular cereal?

Worldwide, Honey Nut Cheerios is the best-selling cereal, and it's not even that close. According to a 2016 report, the sweet variation on the General Mills product had a half-billion in sales. Kellogg's Frosted Flakes were doing pretty great at No. 2, with $430.9 million in sales.

We've come a long way from "Granula." Go to the cereal aisle at your grocery store and you'll still find brans and oats, but there are plenty more varieties, some that might look more like dessert than a healthy start to your day (looking at you, Cookie Crisp). But if you're looking at the nutritional facts on the side of the box, your best bet is to go old-school, according to Consumer Reports. Find something with whole grains, low in sugar, higher in protein (think 6 grams or more and watch your serving size.